Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the field of automated data collection. More specifically, this innovation relates to determining and controlling a location and status of an asset, directly or indirectly.
Description of the Related Art
Position-tracking systems seek to identify the location of mobile objects in real-time and are used in a wide variety of applications, including transportation, logistics management, healthcare, security, etc. Position-tracking systems that can provide continuous location information are desirable for applications that require non-interrupted visibility of the mobile object through a journey.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,321,305 discusses a system and method for determining the location of an object. The system includes an object location tracker and a corresponding computer system. The object location tracker is configured for attachment to a mobile vehicle and includes an object identification reading device and a position-tracking device. The object identification reading device senses object identification indicia on the object, such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, bar codes, quick response (QR) codes, etc. as the mobile vehicle moves around an environment in which the object is situated. The position-tracking device computes the location of the location tracker as the mobile vehicle moves throughout environment. The computer system associates the sensed object identification indicia of the object, as determined by the reading device, with a location in the environment based on the position of the object location tracker in the environment, as determined by the position tracking device, when the reading device senses the object identification indicia. The mobile vehicle may include its own mobility system, such as for example, a forklift or an autonomous robotic device, a drone, or the mobile vehicle may be, for example, a pushcart that is pushed around the environment. The technique uses an active object location tracker on a mobile vehicle, which then is used to locate a multitude of other assets that carry passive indicia.
The advent of a multitude of intelligent autonomous mobile vehicles, and the proliferation of low cost active indicia, sensors, and actuators that can carry status information in addition to identification information have paved the path to observe and control the status of the tracked assets, in addition to their locations. Subsequently, the status of the assets can be used to guide the further actions of the mobile vehicle carrying the location tracker and the computer system.